1 And it came to pass, when all the nation were clean passed over the Jordan, that LORD spoke to Joshua, saying,

2 Take for you twelve men out of the people, a man out of every tribe,

3 and command ye them, saying, Take for you here out of the midst of the Jordan, out of the place where the priests' feet stood firm, twelve stones, and carry them over with you, and lay them down in the lodging-place where ye shall

4 Then Joshua called the twelve men, whom he had prepared of the sons of Israel, a man out of every tribe.

5 And Joshua said to them, Pass over before the ark of LORD your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take ye up every man of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel,

6 that this may be a sign among you, that, when your children ask in time to come, saying, What do ye mean by these stones?

7 Then ye shall say to them, Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of LORD. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. And these stones shall be for a memorial to the

8 And the sons of Israel did so as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, as LORD spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel, and they carried them over with them

9 And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests who bore the ark of the covenant stood, and they are there to this day.

10 For the priests who bore the ark stood in the midst of the Jordan until everything was finished that LORD commanded Joshua to speak to the people, according to all that Moses commanded Joshua. And the people hastened and passed ove

11 And it came to pass, when all the people were clean passed over, that the ark of LORD passed over, and the priests, in the presence of the people.

12 And the sons of Reuben, and the sons of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, passed over armed before the sons of Israel, as Moses spoke to them.

13 About forty thousand ready armed for war passed over before LORD to battle, to the plains of Jericho.

14 On that day LORD magnified Joshua in the sight of all Israel, and they feared him, as they feared Moses, all the days of his life.

15 And LORD spoke to Joshua, saying,

16 Command the priests who bear the ark of the testimony, that they come up out of the Jordan.

17 Joshua therefore commanded the priests, saying, Come ye up out of the Jordan.

18 And it came to pass, when the priests who bore the ark of the covenant of LORD came up out of the midst of the Jordan, and the soles of the priests' feet were lifted up to the dry ground, that the waters of the Jordan returned to t

19 And the people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and encamped in Gilgal on the east border of Jericho.

20 And those twelve stones, which they took out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal.

21 And he spoke to the sons of Israel, saying, When your sons shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What do these stones mean?

22 Then ye shall let your sons know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land.

23 For LORD your God dried up the waters of the Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as LORD your God did to the Red Sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were passed over,

24 that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of LORD, that it is mighty, that ye may fear LORD your God forever.